I HATE FSX…There, I said it

[Kennair]

Sorry Maurice can't help with your satellite receiver, but I just wanted to warn you about loading P3D in preference to FSX in the vain hope it will improve your plight.  The word "vain" should give you some idea of my experience with it lately.  I was hopeful with my new i7 build and all the wizz bang hardware similar to yours but when outputting to a 3 HD TV's the frame rate is less than appealing and still requires plenty of tweaking and compromises.  My recommendation is to stick with FSX but perhaps a full reinstall coupled with periodic backups so it can be restored to any fully functioning point in time should issues arise such as conflicting or corrupt scenery (which is what the runway issue seems to point to).  I also frustratingly found the 1/2 refresh rate tweak in inspector to cause a downturn in my frame rates.

I'd also endorse Nat's suggestion of deleting the cfg file and only running the Wideviewaspect=TRUE addition.  Even Nick over at Simforums has removed most of the previous tweaks espoused by others over the years.

In the meantime enjoy the bourbon and sunsets, but I bet your mind is racing as to how you can fix this dilemma?    Good luck staying away from it.

Ken.

[rhysb]

Maurice,

Is it a single or dual feed satellite receiver? Is it connected to a phone line?

Rhys b

Finally! . It's a dual feed receiver and it is connected to a phone line to pay for Pay per View programs. We don't use the second feed though.

Maurice

Maurice,

I sometimes get a lag in my satellite receiver if the box is updating through the phone line. Most service providers do this for the guide pages etc. this can cause the signal to drop.

Shouldn't be anything to do with the hard drive.

the only other time my signal has dropped was when it snowed and covered the dish!!!

[Boeing Skunk Works]

In many cases a phone line is no longer needed.

If you have internet access through cable or DSL the receiver can update wirelessly through the broadband connection.

Just sayin'

[blueskydriver]

Hi Maurice,

Have you tried unpluggng the power to your satellite receiver yet? If not, unplug it and it'll recycle or reiniate its connections once you plug it back in; it might take 5 mins or so before it is ready again.

John

[Maurice]

I'm getting a lot closer to resolving the satellite issue, but first, yes I did reset the box several times with no difference.

Last night, pretty much every channel was almost unwatchable with frequent loss of signal just on that one TV. Because of the dual tuners, I have 2 cables going to the receiver. I unplugged the one going to tuner #2 and all channels were suddenly working perfectly. The only issue was that I could not record one channel and watch something else live or I could not record 2 channels at the same time like I used to.

But to add to the mystery, I plugged both cables back in this morning and the reception so far is perfect. The cabling is ok for sure since the fellow who did the original install replaced them anyway just to be sure. So it very much looks like one of the tuners is flaky and affecting the other one when a cable is plugged in. But who knows? Maybe the receiver is infected with the FSX virus 

Thanks,
Maurice

[Maurice]

Sorry Maurice can't help with your satellite receiver, but I just wanted to warn you about loading P3D in preference to FSX in the vain hope it will improve your plight. 
Ken.

Thanks for the heads up Ken. I'll keep that in mind and probably not venture there unless P3D releases a new version which gets good reviews 

Maurice

[sluyt050]

Hi Maurice,

Just taking some time off generally seems to be a good strategy, although I know from myself that I really can bite into a problem until it's solved. What helped me a lot up to now, and not only in case of FSX troubles, is simply writing back a (Acronis) backup without ever knowing the problem(s) (sometimes you just not want to know the shit that happened). I generally make a backup once a week for my FS PC's and once a day for my office PC.

Concerning switching to P3D, I just wait till version 2.0 appears and no major problems reported.

I simply do not believe that you going to give up, but what is wisdom...

[Maurice]

I simply do not believe that you going to give up, but what is wisdom...

Don't make any bets about that 

Maurice

[iwik]

Maurice,
Best thing to do is walk away for a while.
Just curious and please humour me, do you backup your FSX machine with an image when
you have an acceptable performance.

Les

[Maurice]

Maurice,
Best thing to do is walk away for a while.
Just curious and please humour me, do you backup your FSX machine with an image when
you have an acceptable performance.

Les

I've made many full image backups in the past at various stages. But if by acceptable performance you mean something I was happy with, I would say never.

I know I could easily get back to something 'acceptable' but I simply don't want to. Try & guess why?

Maurice

[iwik]

Thanks,
Been there and done that, at 65 i definitely know where you are comming from.
Please stay around as i enjoy your rants and raves, i know im not alone.
Les

[MLeavy737]

Maurice,
  Obviously I would hate to see you sell everything but I do understand the need to rethink. I have done that many many times. Flying them for a living I wonder why the hell I need a sim at home and what am I going to do with it when its flyable.. Come home from work and fly more?? If I didn't start this project before I started flying them I doubt I would have ventured into this lol..

I know you and X-plane are like oil and water but before you go I really suggest you try
X-Plane in your sim. I understand you don't want to do the 3 computer thing but why don't you start with one? Im sure it will be tough reconfiguring the sim to it however im sure Scott would give a helping hand as he seems to have have ventured far into it.

Flying X-Plane with some winds and turbulence up a bit is a waaaayyy different experience than it is in FSX or any FS for that matter.  Believe me it is much more realistic and I think you would find a new challenge to your flying skills and have more fun.  Not sure what type of computers your using however you could even run X-Plane 9 and get better results. The modeling is the same and the graphics are still nice.  Oh and no more stuttering..

Just a thought anyhow.. good luck on your decision making!! Well be here for ya!

Mike L

[XOrionFE]

I would definitely work with you Maurice if you want to give it a whirl.   It may not be quite as pretty on one PC with wide wrap but not too bad either for trying it out.   It is pretty damn stable to me and really easy to back up and manage,  does not require all the crazy addons and tweaks to be nice like FSX does.   Worth a shot anyway before you completely throw in the towel.   Either that or plan a trip down to Chicago area for a weekend and come visit.  I would love to have you over along with your wife.   We could grab some dinner out and do an evening of simming on XP! Visiting Chicago is always nice also.

Scott

[jackpilot]

especially today... heard you got more white!

I tought about that for Mau but did'nt dare!!

[XOrionFE]

Luckily I am in Sanibel Florida right now 

[Sean]

And I'm in Florida too, albeit sitting in the departure lounge at MCO! 

[Maurice]

Mike & Scott,

I appreciate your efforts to lure me back in but I have tasted the freedom from sim bondage and the last thing I want right now are different set of challenges and aggravations with XP. If I ever get back in next fall, it will be with FSX or very unlikely, P3D  ... something to do with the devil you know

And Mike, I also often wondered what motivates you to build a 737 sim when you fly the real thing. No matter how good XP is or how realistic your flight deck is, it has one major flaw...it remains attached to your house 

Cheers,
Maurice

[Maurice]

Mike & Scott, just one last comment about XP. I am way ahead of you there. Many years ago (at least five I think), I tried a much earlier version of XP on my desktop PC with a 19" monitor.

Despite my lousy memory, I still remember very vividly how great it felt when I tried flying through a thunderstorm. I was truly stunned at how realistic the airplane motion was compared to FS9 at that time. I could have sworn I was riding a roller coaster. And that was while sitting on a desk chair in front of a tiny monitor and a very early version of XP. I wanted to switch at that time but there were too many unknowns and I went the 'easy' way instead.

So, I can only imagine what the new XP versions look like in full surround or even a single projector. That is why I would rather not see it now in all it's glory. I am a weak person and I am very afraid to sample it even once and a visit to Scott's place would be like a first heroin injection, not something I need right now   

Ignorance is truly bliss in some cases 

Maurice

[jackpilot]

Maybe this is why I do not load FSX!

[Maurice]

Maybe this is why I do not load FSX!

Forget about FSX. If you ever switch, skip the 'middleman' ...it will be much less painful

Maurice

[dc8flightdeck]

Last summer the motherboard died on the main PC for my F-4. I made a decision to be very selective about mods and software upgrades and I made a clean FS install. I went from a flightsim crash every 20 minute to no crashes at all. It now runs all day. It also loads and resets much faster.

Now Im glad I had to rebuild the system and that I installed minimal upgrades.

Justin

Maurice,
Do you have an antvirus software running?.If so turn it off temp,ive run into that problem
with Avaast on my system.
Les

Antivirus software could affect frame rates & stutters but it would not cause the runway elevation to jump up and down. I really need to re-build and get rid of a lot of extra programs which I tried &  don't even use now. Any Windows PC needs a clean rebuild from time to time but unfortunately, with all the scenery add-ons I have loaded, I dread starting and I need to get away from it for a few months before I muster the courage or desire to try again.

Right now, I am feeling a euphoric sense of relief to be out of the basement and I can't see myself back at it until next Winter at least, and if I last until Winter, it will be very unlikely I will start again and that thought is very appealing to me right now . So what I need to do is quit watching flying videos (cold Turkey) because watching videos is the only reason I got back at it in previous episodes of sim despair 

So... nobody has any idea about my satellite receiver?? I really need a change of subject here.

Maurice